Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest Issue No. 533
16-09-2010
by Deirdre McArdle
From Russia with deals | Smartphones drive mobile market
Good and bad news on jobs front
While speculation surfaced this week that a large number of jobs could go at Intel, there was some positive news when a handful of firms announced new jobs.
A report in the Sunday Business Post suggested that as many as 500 Intel jobs could be at risk as the chip giant evaluates one of its Leixlip plants. Fab 10, one of Intel's oldest factories in Ireland, manufactures chips based on relatively old technology. The paper quotes sources as saying unless the factory attracts new orders in the near future, it could face closure early next year with the potential loss of the 500 jobs based there. An Intel spokesperson told the paper: "Fab 10 is constantly under review, and no decision has been made about its future."
Despite this worrying development, there was reason to be optimistic, with three firms announcing the creation of new jobs. Last Thursday Deloitte Ireland said it was planning on recruiting 200 new staff, around 30 of which would focus on technology consulting. On the back of a number of significant business wins for its technology and consulting practice in recent months, Deloitte said it has over 30 technology consulting positions available. The roles include junior and senior Java developers, solution and application architects, project managers and cloud computing specialists. More information about the jobs can be found on Deloitte.com.
Meanwhile, IT solutions provider Trilogy Technologies this week opened a new office in Cork, where it is to create 10 new jobs. Trilogy provides managed services and support as well as virtualisation, unified communications and database management solutions. Headquartered in Dublin, it aims to tap into the Munster market by establishing an office in Cork.
Finally, wireless design and test company Benetel, which is based in the Guinness Enterprise Centre, has said it will create eight new jobs following a successful funding round where it secured a EUR1 million investment. The money will be used to fund new product development and a major marketing drive as the company looks to expand into new international markets and boost sales in the US and UK. The new jobs will be created by 2011.
From Russia with deals
A trade mission to Russia last week proved successful for the Irish firms who went along with Minister for Trade and Commerce Billy Kelleher. In all EUR9.2 million worth of deals were signed by Irish firms, in sectors including ICT. A financial breakdown for the individual deals was not revealed.
Among the Irish firms securing deals was Cork firm Digisoft.tv, which provides carrier class solutions to the media and entertainment sectors. It announced an extension of a contract it has with Personal Media Technology for the delivery of terrestrial television channels to Russian viewers.
Adaptive Mobile Security, which provides security solutions for next-generation converged telecom networks, won a deal with Russian mobile operator Vimplecom, which will see the Dublin firm securing Vimplecom's network.
Meanwhile, travel technology solution provider OpenJaw Technologies announced the completion of phase two of an existing contract with Russian online travel agency Amargo.ru. The original contract was signed in April of this year. Under the contact Amargo.ru is using OpenJaw's online selling platform to sell flights and hotels.
Finally, financial software provider Norkom announced an agreement with VTB Bank in Russia to provide it with financial crime and compliance solutions. Norkom will work with IBM on the project and its solutions will be provided on an IBM software platform designed to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Minister Kelleher said the Russian trade mission was an important step for Ireland. "Our economic recovery will be export-led and the Government’s strategy is to target markets such as Russia with high growth potential that can generate revenues and jobs for Irish firms".
Irish exports to Russia, which is Europe's largest emerging market, grew by over 66 percent in the first five months of this year. Ireland is the seventh largest provider of foreign direct investment to Russia, ahead of the US and Japan.
Smartphones drive mobile market
Figures released this week by research firm IDC suggest that consumers are shunning the humble mobile phone in favour of its grander cousin, the smartphone.
During the second quarter of 2010 mobile phone shipments in Western Europe declined by 14 percent, compared to a 60 percent increase in smartphone shipments. Overall, 43.3 million mobile handsets were sold – 28.7 million regular mobile phones and 14.6 million smartphones. Smartphones comprised 34 percent of total shipments, up from 28 percent in the first quarter.
According to IDC, strong sales of Android-based devices was a key driver in the smartphone market. "The 15 percent market share achieved by Android in the quarter is a very important milestone for the less-than-two-year-old Google operating system and shows that the OS is ramping up to become the second biggest operating system as soon as early 2011," said Francisco Jeronimo, European mobile devices research manager, IDC.
Having a strong smartphone portfolio has become an important asset for mobile vendors. On the flip side, an under-developed smartphone range is likely to hamper growth. During the quarter Sony Ericsson regained its third position in the mobile vendor table, leapfrogging LG, which has yet to make an impact on the smartphone sector. While Sony Ericsson's shipments of traditional mobile phones declined by 40 percent over the year, its smartphone shipments grew by a massive 700 percent.
Nokia maintained its top position in the mobile vendor table, although its smartphone sales were less than impressive, growing just 16 percent over the year. Still, its success in the lower-tier mobile phone and feature phone segments is enough to reinforce its overall dominance - for now at least.
Nokia shuffles team for smartphone fight
Nokia has had quite the busy week: its chief executive was replaced, its chairman announced his imminent departure and another executive jumped ship. Last Friday it was announced that embattled CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo was to be removed from the top job following mounting speculation about his ongoing leadership. He will be replaced by Stephen Elop, head of Microsoft's business division, who will take charge of the world's largest handset maker on 21 September. Kallasvuo held the top role at Nokia for the past four years but has been criticised recently due to the firm's lack of a solid smartphone line-up. "The time is right to accelerate the company's renewal, to bring in new executive leadership with different skills and strengths in order to drive company success," said Jorma Ollila, Nokia chairman.
Somewhat unexpectedly, Ollila's prophecy became self-fulfilling when on Tuesday he told press at Nokia World in London that he would step down as chairman in 2012. Ollila had served as Nokia CEO for 14 years, stepping down in 2006 to be replaced by Kallasvuo. According to the Wall Street Journal, the move signals that a deeper transformation could be in store at the Finnish company than many had anticipated. With Ollila's impending departure, Elop would have more of an opportunity to drive his own course at Nokia, particularly in the area of smartphones.
Another surprise resignation at Nokia hit headlines on Monday, just a day ahead of the mobile maker's annual product showcase in London. Anssi Vanjoki, head of the firm's Mobile Solutions unit, revealed his plans to resign following a six-month notice period.
In the midst of this management shuffle, Nokia came out fighting on Tuesday, proclaiming its determination to shake up the smartphone market. "Today our fight back to smartphone leadership shifts into high gear," Niklas Savander, Nokia's executive vice president for markets, told attendees of Nokia World. The handset maker unveiled new mobile phones and revealed a strategy for winning over developers, including a set revenue split, absorbing the cost of publishing applications through its Ovi store, and making programming for the platform simpler. Nokia showed off the next generation of Nokia Communicator, the E7, and revealed its latest touchscreen devices, the C6 and C7.
Extreme Makeover: Twitter Edition
This week micro-blogging site Twitter got a major makeover, which is aimed at enhancing the site's 'stickiness' and its general usability. In a blog post entitled "New Twitter: Because life doesn't always fit into 140 characters", CEO Evan Williams outlined the design and format changes that will be rolled out over the coming weeks.
Basically, the re-design is aimed at trying to get more Twitter users to use the Twitter.com site instead of the many third-party applications like Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. The new design will let users view pictures, videos and other media without being forced to navigate to a new page. A left-hand panel will feature the tweets timeline as usual, as well as @mentions, retweets, searches, and lists just above the timeline. A new panel on the right will show extra information when users click on tweets or the links contained in tweets. This video provides a good illustration of the new format.
As part of the redesign, Twitter struck deals with a number of media companies -- including Flickr, YouTube, YFrog, Vimeo, TwitPic and JustinT. This means that content from those services can be displayed in the new viewing pane in the right-hand panel.
The redesign also deals with the limits to how many tweets appear on each page. Users will now be able to scroll infinitely through their tweets timeline. Mini profiles also feature, whereby users can click an @username to have quick access to account information, including bio and recent tweets, without having to leave the main page.
Williams told a press conference that the re-vamp should make it much easier to get value from the huge amount of content flowing through the site. Essentially, the aim is to increase user engagement on the site, leading visitors to stay on the site longer and potentially increasing Twitter's money-making prospects. Initial reaction from commentators to the redesign has been broadly positive.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 